Final Fantasy 14's Heavensward Expansion Takes the MMO to New Heights

It’s been a little under two years since the failed MMO Final Fantasy XIV was closed down before being relaunched as A Realm Reborn, and what a two years they’ve been. Under the watchful eye of director Naoki Yoshida, Final Fantasy XIV has gone from being an unsightly blemish on the books of Square Enix to one of the most profitable parts of its portfolio, currently bringing in over 4 million paying subscribers and set to imminently receive its first expansion. From what I’ve been able to experience of Heavensward, this is a trend that’s set to continue.

Last week’s Letter from the Producer Live revealed heaps of what’s set to come, but for those not in the know Heavensward will raise the level cap from 50 to 60, add three new jobs and heaps of new content, including a 50-hour main scenario. The majority of this is spread across the nine new zones, each one of which is reportedly between 50 and 100 percent bigger than those currently in-game. Certainly the two I explored, The Sea of Clouds and the Coerthas Western Highlands, were much bigger and more densely populated, which is crucial considering Heavensward is set to add flying mounts to the game.

Until this point we’ve only been able to run mounts along the ground but, with the launch of Heavensward, you’ll be able to take to the skies in the new zones, though the old ones will still clip your wings. Some of the mounts we saw that’re up to the task include a Black Chocobo and a Griffin, though some of the existing mounts in the game will be able to go airborne as well. A standout on this front is the Fat Chocobo, and watching his stumpy wings struggle to get us off the ground brought the sense of endearing ridicule the series is so great at encapsulating to proceedings. The most tantalising addition, however, is the ability to create a Free Company workshop in the game’s version of guild housing and then work with Cid to build your own highly customisable airship. If you’ve ever played Final Fantasy and longed to have the freedom to design your own trusty vessel, I’m pleased to report the one included in Heavensward looks set to sate your appetite. The options already in-game are varied and, with new ones set to be added in future content patches, I’m already intrigued to see where it goes.

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The addition of these flying mounts has spawned concerns for some, however.

The addition of these flying mounts has spawned concerns for some, however. When World of Warcraft added a similar system back in its first expansion, The Burning Crusade, players loved it. Unfortunately, it’s since become a massive headache for the game’s designers as it allowed players to bypass lots of mechanics and fly directly to quest objectives, skipping foes and ultimately making zone design rather tricky. It’s now not available at all in the latest expansion, Warlords of Draenor, and there’s serious debate about whether or not future expansions will bother with it either. With this in mind, could adding flying mounts to Final Fantasy XIV be a mistake?

Mercifully, it doesn’t seem like it. Especially in the case of The Sea of Clouds, the entire zone just felt like it was designed with verticality in mind. As I soared past massive floating crystals suspended in midair, and giant dandelion-like plants, it felt like this was how the zone was fundamentally meant to be experience, rather than a gimmick. Enemy distribution feels smart and the ability some of these foes had to tail me slightly as I tried to take-off means reaching quest objectives wasn’t just as simple as flying directly up above them and then diving straight down. The ice-covered Coerthas Western Highlands aren’t quite as vertically-designed, but again smarter enemy placement seemed to make up for it.

Though all of the existing Jobs are receiving new abilities, it’s the three new Jobs that have most people intrigued, and with good reason. The tanking Dark Knight, healing Astrologian and damage-dealing Machinist all start from level 30 and each feels suitably distinct.

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The tanking Dark Knight, healing Astrologian and damage-dealing Machinist all start from level 30 and each feels suitably distinct

My favourite by far is the Dark Knight. For some time now fans of the game have desperately wanted another tanking class and here it’s easily the most intuitive of the new classes to play, with its mixture of greatsword and magic attacks feeling straightforward. You have two main combos, with three finishers available depending on whether you want to weaken a foe, restore your health and magic or build aggro. Area-of-effect threat generators are a godsend too.

I was less taken by the other two Jobs. The Astrologian sounds interesting in theory with her deck of Tarot Cards each causing different effects, but in practice this can add an irritating sense of randomness to proceedings. You can switch between diurnal and nocturnal stances, which grant you access to White Mage or Scholar abilities, respectively. I struggled to get the hang of this during my brief gameplay time, so it’s entirely possible if you’ve levelled the class yourself you’ll have a better idea of how it all works, but I felt a bit overwhelmed.

Finally, the gun-toting Machinist seemed fun, with his focus on kiting enemies while remaining out of reach and turrets, but unfortunately in the build I played a key feature was bugged. You’re meant to need to reload your weapon using certain moves in order to keep up a steady stream of damage, but I could fire endlessly regardless of the state of my ammo pouch, which meant I could pretty much faceroll through everything by using all my most powerful abilities without thinking about the weaker reload skills. So while I can’t comment on power, I can say the focus on status effects and lack of combos adds a dynamic to combat I haven’t encountered in the game before. There’s also a crucial ability called Gauss Barrel that, when active, boosts your damage but means you need to remain stationary to cast. Again, it’s a nice tactical touch.

Heavensward is also set to launch with eight new dungeons, a couple of which we got a peak at in last week’s livestream. I only got to try out two of them, and was prevented from taking out the last boss in both, but I’m pleased to report a challenging difficulty level. Most of the others on my team were at least familiar with the game and we wiped a few times in each dungeon even with tactics explained to us beforehand. Though we eventually managed to get out the other side in one piece, it does feel that Square Enix has managed to hit the sweet spot in terms of difficulty when it comes to dungeon content, at least from the little I played.

In essence, Heavensward looks set to offer more of the same and then some. Everything that made A Realm Reborn such a successful relaunch has been kept intact, while feedback from fans seems to have been taken on board. I’m excited to see a lot more of Eorzea when Heavensward launches in June. If you can’t wait until then, come back to IGN later this week for a conversation with Yoshida about how he turned the MMO around and what he hopes to bring to the MMO and Square Enix in the future.

Luke Karmali is IGN's UK News Editor. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on Twitter.